Registration is still open for this weekend’s KGS 2013 Meijin tournament qualifier. The April qualifier featured “many exciting games and drew more than 300 observers,” reports KGS admin Akane Negishi. “One of last year’s contenders, Grande, won the April qualifier again.” The single-elimination qualifier will be held May 25-26 on an Asian/European daytime schedule (Round 1 starts at 5a EDT/2a PDT). In this fifth qualifier, the winner will become a contender for the finals which will start in November. The runner-up may also become a contender if there are 6 or more rounds in the Qualifier. The final KGS Meijin winner will receive a minimum cash prize of $500 and a special Meijin icon. Click here for details and to register.
American Go E-Journal » Main Page
KGS Meijin Qualifier May 25
Monday May 20, 2013
This Week’s Go Calendar: Baltimore
Monday May 20, 2013
May 25-26: Baltimore, MD
40th Maryland Open
Keith Arnold hlime81@comcast.net 410-788-3520
Get the latest go events information.
Chess Grandmaster Recommends Go to Chess Players
Sunday May 19, 2013
Many chess players who discover go seem to leave chess behind, but notable Swedish grandmaster Tiger Hillarp Person , the author of “Tiger’s Modern,” finds go to be a nice complement to his enjoyment of chess. Persson recently started blogging at “Chess at the Bag of Cats,” where he has set up a go section. He writes: “I started out with Go in the beginning of 2011 and, after a rapid rise to about 9kyu, I’ve been gaining around 4kyu a year since then. I can really recommend chess players to do this for a number of reasons. First, if you are too tactically inclined a player, then by playing Go you will be forced to think about things like ‘structure’ and ‘plans’. Secondly, if you work as a coach, reliving the struggle of being a beginner at a difficult game (like Chess – or Go) will definitely improve your understanding of those you are coaching. Thirdly, there are few things that let you appreciate the ‘nature’ of what you have learned as a chess player. Learning Go will make it obvious that you know stuff that transcends the chess board.” -Roy Laird, with thanks to Michael Bacon for sending the link.
Janice Kim Workshop June 28
Sunday May 19, 2013
Go is returning to Hollyhock Center, in British Columbia, after more than a decade. Janice Kim 3P will lead a workshop at the popular learning center June 28 through July 3. The Hollyhock website says “Hollyhock was founded in 1983, and is Canada’s leading centre for lifelong learning, but you can also think of us as a ‘refuge for your soul’, a place that allows you access to what matters, or simply time to rest, play and achieve wellness.” Kim promises to “Increase your go skill through interactive lectures, small and large group exercises, game practice and analysis,” as well as help players “Develop critical thinking skills and improve their confidence while exploring effective and positive real world decision-making.” An award-winning author and professional 3-dan, Kim brings decades of experience to her acclaimed workshops; in 1984 she won the World Youth Go Championship, took second place in the 1985 Fuji Women’s Korean Go Champion and in 2008 she placed 4th in the World Poker Tour Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. She’s also been a contributor to the American Go E-Journal, most recently contributing commentary at the 2012 Sport Accord World Mind Sports Games in Beijing. To learn more, and to register for the workshop, click here.
Four American Pros Coming to Congress
Wednesday May 15, 2013
Myungwan Kim 9P, Yilun Yang 7P, Mingjiu Jiang 7P, and Jennie Shen 2p have confirmed they will be teaching at the US Go Congress in Tacoma this year. Co-Director Chris Kirschner reports: “Pros from Korea, China, and both Kansai Ki-in and Nihon Ki-in in Japan will attend, but we aren’t sure of the names yet.” Korea also plans to send two additional pros to the Teacher Workshop. See the What’s Happening link on the Congress Website for more details and frequent updates.
New From Hinoki Press: “Theory and Practice” series by Russian Master
Sunday May 12, 2013
In Russia, they take their mind sports seriously. Case in point: the Russian Sports Federation’s (RSF) chess program has produced many of the world’s finest players. Similarly, the RSF’s go program has produced top Western 
professionals through their partnership with the Hankuk Kiwon, producing players such as Alexander Dinerchtein 3P (“breakfast” on KGS) and Svetlana Shikshina 3P, and continues to produce promising up-and-comers such as Ilya Shikshin 7D.
If asked to name their mentors, all would certainly mention Valery Shikshin, an Honored Trainer of the Russian Federation (and as you may gather, father of both Svetlana and Illya). Shikshin has been teaching and coaching Russian go for 25 years, and has developed a set of axioms and principles that he sets forth in this four-volume “Theory and Practice Series,” now available exclusively in the US through GoGameGuru. Volume 1, The Theory and Practice of Tsumego, 
includes more than 300 original life-and-death problems, many from Russian master games. Starting with the basic shapes, Shikshin takes the reader all the way through corner positions, side formations, and on into the intricacies of seki and ko. I found the chapter on seki to be uniquely systematic in its understanding of how these strangely symbiotic shapes arise.
While Volume 1 of “Theory and Practice” is a new approach to an area that has been widely studied, Volume 2 — “The Theory and Practice of Semeai“ — is surely unique in English. Here Shikshin takes the same systematic approach to capturing races, illustrating a few dozen basic principles with numerous problems and game examples. As in Volume 1, the principles are illustrated by hundreds of problems and examples, many from actual games. Two other volumes will complete the series in the next few months – The Theory and Practice of Shapes, and The Theory and Practice of Analysis. These materials helped to produce some great Western go masters – they are surely a worthy entry into the Western go canon.
- Roy Laird
OWL NAMT Deadline May 16
Saturday May 11, 2013
There are still seats open in next weekends tournament OWL: Resurrection. The sequel to last year’s Oscar Wilde Liberation tournament, which falls on the anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s release from Reading Gaol Prison. For the second year in a row, this tournament will give players a chance to earn points towards this year’s North American Masters Tournament at the US Go Congress in August. The 4-round tournament will take place on KGS in the AGA Tournament Room, on Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19. Players must be eligible for NAMT and rated 4D+. Click here for tournament schedule and rules, and click here to register. Registration is free, and participation in the tournament guarantees at least some points to all players. The deadline is May 16th, at midnight. - Karoline Burrall. Photo: Oscar Wilde, who once said “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
